Love And Property Damage

[silentasthe_glaive]

[Well that’s one way to make an entrance. Or at least, the aftermath of an entrance. There’s a small, perfectly spherical crater in the ground, tinged at the edges with what looks like purple energy. If someone scans the damage, there appear to be trace amounts of something that could be magic-based energies. Also, ringed around that crater are the tattered remains of a poor and unfortunate couch in the wrong place at the wrong time.]

Added to all that, there’s a young girl perched on another couch nearby. (And this one doesn’t carry any grudges for the untimely destruction of its kin.) She looks just shy this side of dazed and out of it, and the brochure is being held in shaky hands.]

“This is really interesting but… how do I go home? CAN I get home? I’m not sure if-“

[She cuts off on that. Things are still blurry and out of focus, and she can feel a headache building if she focuses too hard. So instead Hotaru rubs at her forehead, and switches tracks.]

"…Maybe I should ask a different question? If that’s okay, um… actually I don’t know what else I should ask. What should I ask about?”

Comments

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Something like," he not-quite-agrees genially. "From time to time, I do offer wayward souls guidance to a portal back to their world. For only a small fee, generally. A favor will usually do."

[silentasthe_glaive]

"What sort of favor?" She shouldn't grab this so readily... but it's a chance to go back home and be sure everyone is ok. She can't pass it up so easily.

"I could do something in return for finding a way home. Do you need..."

What DOES a sharp dressed man need?

"Someone to do the laundry? Or go get a new pair of shoes?"

Can't blame a kid for guessing, at least.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"I don't know, yet," he admits, smiling pleasantly, "what I might need. Think of it more as a sort of floating promise: one day, when I have a task suited to your skills, I may ask it of you, and its completion would be the clearing of your debt."

[silentasthe_glaive]

It's just a task, right? In return for finding a way back home; that doesn't sound like a hard thing to ask, and this person is taking time out of his day to help her out.

Sometimes getting an evil spirit sealed inside you does NOTHING for your judgement calls. Particularly if you can't fully recall the experience just yet.

"That... that sounds fair? I think that's okay."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

The man grins, sweeping the hat from his head. He especially likes people who agree to the price of a favor without laying out any definitions for the kind of favor they won't do. "Excellent," he purrs, "I shall need a hair from your head, if you don't mind? For the spell."

[silentasthe_glaive]

"Alright..."

Cue one black hair getting wrapped around her finger and plucked from her head with a minimum amount of wincing. It then gets offered up, as Hotaru cautiously watches and wonders just what will happen next.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Thank you," he murmurs, receiving the strand and twining it among the fingers of one hand with care. "And your name, young lady?"

[silentasthe_glaive]

"Hotaru Tomoe," she quickly supplies. After a moment of thought she also adds more information.

"Pappa's name is Souichi Tomoe, if that helps? And I live in Tokyo with him."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Not strictly needed," he murmurs, "but thank you, Miss Tomoe, it shall be kept in mind."

Chanting softly, twining her strand of hair in the fingers of one hand, his other hand describes an imaginary sphere that hangs in midair--stroking it from this angle, then that, so persuasive in its fluid movements that one might almost imagine they see it--until, indeed, a globe of light kindles in the air that has been receiving his attention, bobbing slightly. He brings it to rest on the tip of a finger.

"There we are. This, Miss Tomoe, will guide you to the door back to your world, nearest the place you call home. Follow it faithfully, and do take care."

A little breath from his lips nudges the globe off his finger. It falls only a few inches before bouncing back up, bobbing and wobbling slowly off through the Nexus.

[silentasthe_glaive]

"Th-thank you!" Watching people work magic has yet to lose its novelty, judging by how wide her eyes have gone. And she's starting to feel a flicker of hope; maybe she can't remember all of the circumstances that brought her to this place, but at least now Hotaru can find her way back.

She hurries to follow after the globe, and sure enough after picking a winding path through the Nexus, it ends up at a door. An ornate door at that; memories of the term 'romantic' from school classes go through Hotaru's head as she tests out the handle, and swings the door open. She walks through it, and for a second she's so sure that she's home.

Right before things go dark. It feels like she's getting, spun, shoved, and tossed around in some place between worlds. And once her vision clears...

...She's back in the Nexus.

This is not a good thing.